uktog

May well be the same place but it’s developed as the barn is a solid structure now and the buses go all the way down until you start the c2km walk This is the main house

The system works if you are paying by obc, otherwise if your past your travel agents final payment it doesn’t and no one can yet offer a resolution

Thanks @tmacktravels was trying to track who first made the absolutely excellent recommendation. The site we reviewed and the confirmation we had certainly mentioned the walk distance. For me the last half mile back was a grit your teeth time but I am so glad we did this one

Unfortunately all this means White Night is going to be at sea during the waves which is disappointing. Whilst not ideal they should have stuck to White Night tonight when we could have delayed leaving Madryn and accepted two nights of comedy in succession Lets hope White Night is even feasible in the swells

Indeed - a rather “foolish” idea Today was a brilliant day for those of us on Cruise Critic who had identified a great excursion no one needed to organise- one of these ones where you sign up and they do the admin! We headed 70km out of Puerto Madryn to El Pedral Reserve (you book direct via the reserve site). Now, at this point, we have to apologise to those who were in other mini buses from the ship on the identical excursion They had purchased it through the ship at a cost of c$250 each. We paid $120 each. We had the added advantage of being there first, and so we’re able to have a longer time on the reserve. First though we stopped at the cliffs and the lighthouse Then a 2km stroll to find these beauties A lovely experience with the opportunity to be close up with nature with a well informed guide no other groups were there, so the penguins were not being crowded out. The Lunch of barbecued lamb was delicious and the salad and fruit salad. We saw the lamb being prepared as we arrived before our walk All very refreshing and the wine was unlimited which helped a few people snooze on the way back home. It was a great day, and it just shows how much is added by land discoveries for no added values other than to use up on board credit

Because the balance for the excursions would be wrapped up with the cruise cost we’ve already paid so we still would be unable to pay them due to how their system appears to operate As our next cruise is in 28 days time there is some urgency to resolve this issue

Good point though I would still be in trouble with paying the balance

I think the issue arises when you are not using obc

Yes they do

Today we really have rolled. They moved the Officer BBQ to Discoveries and tonight’s show is Liars Club as dancers cannot perform in this weather. The BBQ though good wasn’t as extensive as we had in the past (no suckling pig etc). There was a lot of crashing of dishes including a pile of plates right behind me. I’m surprised more breakages didn’t happen. The activities for the day are now becoming quite repetitive quizzes at the same time every day, and the talk the same times - that said we continue to find Les Evans talk on Concord and now he is onto spaceflight absolutely fascinating. The other nature talks seem almost less relevant now - that may be doing the speakers a disservice, the good thing is, I am usually watching those later in the evening ahead of going to sleep on the playback on the TV. Dover Sole is not being offered as a chef’s special any night this cruise. The Speciality restaurant menus are ok but the special dishes have been disappointing. The special dessert every night is (add in your fruit) mousse and gelato. There is no longer a soufflé of the night so it’s Hazelnut in Aqualina and grain nut in Prime C. The new menus are much needed!

The pantomime gets worse. They want full payment including for the cruise to be able to process the payment. Trouble is, standard UK issue payment has been made to the agent but is not released to Azamara until sail date. So from what I’m being told basically in this situation I cannot buy excursions at 10% off. I’m trying to escalate matters

We have the same issue for a later cruise, the response was a shoulder shrug luckily I’m happy to DIY on that one

For Journey and onward it will also depend where they stop on the eastern run down

Azamara gives an incentive to guests currently on board if they book excursions for a future Cruise. This can lead to discount of up to 10% off the cost. We have often done this in the past, and the excursions were paid for in dollars and charged to my credit card. This price included the 10% discount. It is now a new process on board and it is so convoluted. I can’t imagine many people will use it in future unless they’re going to make significant savings. Firstly, for UK guests we cannot pay in dollars onboard as we used to when booking excursions ahead. The charge for the excursions is in Sterling and the exchange rate is penal. It’s $1.18 against a market rate of €1.25. The deal may be good for Americans. It’s lousy for all non dollar bookings. Secondly, the method of payment involves you having to make an appointment with shore excursions once you’ve agreed your selection to then be escorted, I quote by the staff member to the concierge who can put the payment through to your card as shore excursions have no ability to take the money. As they’re insisting that it’s paid for in sterling you can’t add it to your on board account or pay at guest relations. This is certainly how it’s happening on Quest and tying up my availability with when both shore excursions and the concierge is available is a Pfaff Thirdly, you do not get the discount now. You are given a piece of paper that you have to remember to take on your next Cruise (Although I have been told photograph of it would be acceptable) . You then have to visit guest relations who will apply the 10% discount back to the credit card you used, so effectively you are lending Azamara the full cost and the refund of the 10% only comes at the end of the cruise that those excursions were booked on All very much stacked in the Cruise lines favour As our excursions related to Japan which are very expensive and we are having a few it’s worth persevering to save the discount. It feels like this is really a perk they don’t want to give you so they’re going to make it as difficult as possible particularly if you’re only booking lower cost, excursions and the savings are smaller.

Rotten luck the change in champagne- the paying passengers probably lost out due to the conspicuous over consumption by the tick tock brigade and other free loaders

@Riocca - we’ve already abandoned plans to revisit Africa and this trip to South America may be our last. It’s not only the need to get the vaccine it’s the lateness of information coming out. Even if you want to get the vaccine we would struggle to get one in such a short time frame never mind recover from reactions

Some cruisers may not be able to be vaccinated and South Africa has already shown they’re inflexible on this. Others can have reactions that lay them low for several days which they won’t want to experience onboard. They’ve got a high % on Onward who are world cruise guests who have paid and expect a lot. Azamara are possibly “scared” of the comeback from some of them

Thanks As Explora don’t do air they take a very cavalier attitude to making changes. Perhaps if they had to manage the air portion consequences they would understand our frustration. Onboard was lovely, we had no issue with the menus over the 17 nights but we can no longer recommend this line to others.

If you’ve flown all the way to Cape Town looks like it’s a heads I win tails you lose situation whatever you are signing

I have had such yuk luck with cancellations and alterations on Explora such we’ve only managed one cruise and had 3 sets of issues with cancellations Today the curse struck again. What really disappoints me is the 20 night Cruise has been reduced to an 18 night Cruise and the only sweetener offered is €750 on board credit when it is a reduction of two ports of call 10% cruise time and as the cruise starts two days later, I have non-refundable airfare that I either have to use and pay for two extra nights at the port of embarkation or lose and rebook for two days later. Explora just do not handle these situations well, and it comes over that inconveniencing, the guest doesn’t matter to them. Such a shame when the on board experience is so good, but we have two booked with them now and until they sort that act out I think that’s it - of course, one of those two is this one affected.

Quest currently has Sky News, BBC World and BBC HD

You cannot get the discount until onboard that’s the issue

I wonder if the World Cruisers are an extra challenge re Onward. They are already on board and the South Africa route might give vaccination challenges

I know @Mackdogmolly did a good excursion out of town here in Ushuaia and hopefully you will hear about it soon. This trip was our third time here so we had done the Beagle Channel/lighthouse and the train/park/end of the world post office. So here is our DIY day which worked out just great. We were in port 8-4. We took a leisurely breakfast and left the ship at 9. At the end of the pier we turned right through the sculpture park for 5 blocks then left up a pretty steep hill to the Prison Museum complex. The total slow walk time was about 20 minutes. The museum doesn’t open until 10. We had pesos left so paid 18000 each for entry )about $18 each. It’s a bleak fascinating place to add to our prisons of the world we’ve gone to and makes Alcatraz seem like the Ritz. We then walked back to the pier where we’d seen this tour $10 each. It might on busy days be an idea to buy tickets before heading to the museum. It was good our seats were allocated on the ticket much to the consternation of the Chinese group who pushed to board first and were then removed to their less good seats 😂😂 It’s a nice ride around. 1 hour 15 with two 10 minute stops. One at a great viewpoint - views to Chile and back to port. And the second at the “Haunted Lake” in the ski area. A lot of the trip was driving in residential areas but that always fascinates me. We got back to the ship at 1400 so comfortable timing We loved our $60 day (ships walking tour and museum visit would have been $80 each). The weather was amazing unlike our previous two trips zero wind and no rain.

Land ahoy!! Its a very strange experience after six days solitude coming Into very busy and noisy, pier side in Ushuaia, with a Viking ship loading along beside us. After the silence of the last six days it feels all so loud😂 But what a beautiful sunrise greeted us. If you are coming into Ushuaia my advice is get up early to see the sunrise if your timings allow We were investigating a possible future booking and can confirm free nights are based on the current fare not a “penal” fare. The presentation of quotations is so much clearer and the benefits are detailed in words eg free internet as well as the codes